When John Greenwood built a pair of stock-framed, wide-bodied, fuel-injected race cars for the 1974-‘75 Trans-Am Series, he was focused on beating Porsches and BMWs at Sebring, Pocono, Portland, Ore., and other tracks. He didn’t think of the two Corvettes as collector cars, but that didn’t keep Lance Smith, of Villanova, Pa., from spending nine years tracking down one of them.

Smith owns the first of the two cars built. In 1976, after Greenwood and Rudy Braun raced it, the car was sold. It competed in seven races after that, two here in the United States and five in Europe. The car was ultimately discovered in Munich Germany in 1996.

But the story really begins with independent racer Greenwood. He ran against richly financed factory teams campaigning 2000-lb. lightweight cars. His Corvettes were 800 lbs. heavier, but Greenwood managed to beat the Europeans time and again because he had raced a ’72 Corvette for three years and understood its strengths and weaknesses. His new cars featured refinements to help him win. They included relocating the fuel tank and battery box to get more consistent handling as the fuel load changed during a race.

The Greenwood plant in Troy, Mich. replaced rubber bushings in the ’75 Corvette’s suspension with sealed ball bearings. The rear suspension underwent a complete redesign and a rear sway bar stiffened things up. To beef up the whole car, a roll cage was added and Greenwood also designed improved engine support struts. Greenwood spent about $125,000 developing each car.

For power, Greenwood utilized a fuel-injected all-aluminum 427-cid Chevy big block V-8 with an aluminum injection system that weighed seven pounds and a smooth-flowing header exhaust system. The RPO ZL-1 Chevy 454 churned up more torque that a 510-cid Can-Am engine. No wonder the car was described as “The World’s Fastest Corvette.” Greenwood drove it over 230 mph at Daytona.

Greenwood also packaged his chassis and suspension upgrades into a road racing car kit for Corvettes. He marketed these kits for $18,000. Greenwood produced the GT kits with the same jigs and equipment he utilized in building the racing cars. The kit did not include engine modifications. However, Greenwood did manufacture custom fiberglass body panels and sold them as a separate kit.

Lance Smith is probably the most serious collector of Greenwood Corvettes. He started on the trail of the 1975 Greenwood car by looking for driver Juan Olivera. The Port Huron, Mich. driver had bought the car. The trail got cold and Smith stopped the hunt. Two years later, he saw an ad placed by Dennis Tracy with what looked like the car, but then he hit another brick wall. Smith talked with Tracy and found out that Olivera had been killed in a motorcycle accident and Tracy ultimately got the ‘Vette and sold it to Mike Baretta in Munich.

Because the history was cloudy and because parts of the car had been changed or damaged in races, it required a bunch more research to prove what the car was. Then, Smith had to negotiate a deal, even though there were a few other interested parties. After the deal was clinched, the car was shipped to Canada and sent to Cleveland, Ohio by truck. After it passed through U.S. Customs inspection in Cleveland, it was trucked on to Smith’s home near Pittsburgh. Smith then completed a very nice restoration on the car.

Car was restored in its “Sebring ‘75” format.

Brake air scoop with “427” decal tells the engine story.

The car was brought to Road America for Corvette 60th anniversary event.

After watching Corvette Daytona Prototypes dominate the 2014 Rolex 24 at Daytona and the winter test session at Sebring International Raceway, the 2014 12 Hours of Sebring had a very different look with the Ford EcoBoost powered Riley race car getting its first win in the fastest class of the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship. While Ford grabbed its first win in the prototype class, a Porsche 911 claimed the win in both of the production based GT classes – following up on a winning performance in the GTLM class at Daytona.

Prototype Class
The Ford EcoBoost powered Riley race cars headed into the 2014 12 Hours of Sebring race with the hopes of posting a stronger showing than they did at the season opener in Daytona. Only one of the three Riley EcoBoost cars was still running at the end of the Rolex 24 and the best finishing Ford powered prototype car was 8th in the class and 15th overall – 28 laps back of the class and race winning #5 Corvette DP of Action Express Racing. Corvettes finished in each of the first four positions with two Nissans and a Honda joining those Corvettes to all finish better than the strongest EcoBoost race car.

Things didn’t change much for the Prototype class at the Sebring winter testing as, once again, the #5 Corvette DP was the quickest car on the track followed by a Nissan and another Corvette DP. Fortunately, Ford had moved up to the 4th quickest in the Prototype field so things were looking up as they headed into the 12 Hours of Sebring.

As soon as the cars took to the track for the first official practice at Sebring, it was clear that the Ford EcoBoost Riley teams had gotten things straightened out. A Ford EcoBoost powered Riley race car turned in the quickest lap in each of the four test sessions with the different teams practically taking turns atop the leaderboard. Across all four sessions, there were routinely several EcoBoost cars in the top 5. Surprisingly, those fast practice laps didn’t convert to a fast qualifying lap with the highest starting Ford being the #02 car in the 6th spot. Once again, the Action Express Corvette DP would claim the pole position but the 12 hours race was closely contested and without the mechanical problems that took the Ford Riley cars out of contention in Daytona, the EcoBoost powered cars were able to stick around the front of the field all day and night. The #01 Chip Ganassi Ford EcoBoost Riley car was sitting second behind one of the Honda race cars late in the race and when the Honda was forced to make a final pit stop – the Ford took the lead and held it through the end of the race. This included a caution flag about 20 minutes from the end of the race that would bunch up the field and lead to one great race to the checkered but in the end, the Ford prevailed. The #1 Honda finished second and the #5 Action Express Corvette DP finished third.

With the win, the #01 Chip Ganassi Ford EcoBoost Riley climbs to the third place in championship standings while the Prototype class is lead by the #5 Action Express Corvette DP and the #10 Wayne Taylor Racing Corvette DP sits in 3rd.

GT- LeMans
Over in the faster of the two production based classes, the GTLM class was once again dominated by a Porsche 911 RSR. After the #911 Porsche drove to victory at the Rolex 24, the Porsche North America team came into Sebring looking for back to back wins. They were able to get their second win of the 2014 season but this time, it was the #912 911 RSR that took the class win. The #912 car posted a disappointing finish in Daytona but the team of Michael Christensen and Jörg Bergmeister made up for it is Sebring, claiming the top qualifying spot in the GTLM class and sitting up front all day to hold off the #93 SRT Viper GTS-R in the final minutes of the race. After turning in a lackluster qualifying effort, both of the SRT Viper teams started towards the rear of the field but the #93 Viper was able to avoid mechanical problems or accidents to battle for the win in the final minutes of the 12 hour long race. The #55 BMW Z4 GTE that finished second in Daytona grabbed the third podium spot in GTLM at the 2014 12 Hours of Sebring race.

Perhaps the most disappointing results came from the Chevrolet Corvette C7R teams for the second straight race. After both Corvettes ran into mechanical issues at the Rolex 24, Corvette Racing came into Sebring looking to return to the same championship form as they displayed in 2013. Things got started early, with Corvettes turning in some of the the quickest GTLM lap times during the four practice sessions followed by a qualifying effort that put the new Corvettes together in the fourth and fifth starting spots. Unfortunately, both of the C7R Corvettes ran into troubles that forced them to settle for the sixth and eighth finishing spots. The #3 Corvette was involved in an accident on the first lap that would take it out of contention early and although the #4 Corvette was at the front of the GTLM class all day, engine issues in the final half hour took Corvette Racing out of contention for the win.

Thanks to a strong finish in both Daytona and Sebring, the #55 BMW Z4 GTE team holds the championship lead in GTLM followed by the #911 Porsche in second and the #912 Porsche in third. The SRT Viper teams currently sit fourth and fifth on the season.

GT-Daytona
The GTD class was once again the largest in the 12 Hours of Sebring race with 25 cars challenging for the slower of the two production based classes. After watching a variety of different Porsche 911 GT America race cars dominate the four practice sessions, it was a surprise to see only one Porsche qualify in the top 5 spots while a BMW Z4 GTE claimed the class pole. However, over the course of the 12 hour long race in Florida, the GTD class essentially thinned out – with six cars battling for the win in the final hours. That group included three Porsches, a pair of Audi R8s and the #555 Ferrari 458 Italia that took the controversial win in Daytona. In the end, the #44 Porsche from Magnus Racing took the win, followed by the #555 Level 5 Ferrari in second and the #23 Porsche from Alex Job Racing finished third (the #22 Alex job Racing Porsche grabbed fourth).

The #555 Ferrari 458 Italia continues to hold the GTD championship point lead with the #45 Flying Lizard Audi in second and the #44 Magnus Racing Porsche in third.

The TUDOR United SportsCar Champsionship makes its next stop in mid April in Long Beach California with only the Prototype and GTLM cars competing on the tight street course.

The Corvette Racing program is arguably one of the most successful American endurance racing programs of all time with the C5-R and C6.R race cars winning some of the biggest races around the world over the past 15 years. When the C7.R was introduced at the 2014 North American International Auto Show in Detroit, Corvette Racing fans had great expectations for the new C7.R – and why wouldn’t they? Not only is the C7.R built by the same company who built the last two generations of Corvette race cars but this newest Corvette racer is based on the 2015 Corvette Z06, which is billed by General Motors as the most track capable Corvette of all time. The C7.R is backed by a decade and a half of winning and it is based on one of the most incredible road cars of all time so when these two new race cars hit the track for the 2014 Rolex 24 at Daytona, fans expected more success.

Unfortunately, things didn’t go anywhere as well as the fans or the Corvette Racing teams had hoped and things started to go poorly early. Although the C7.R was one of the fastest cars in practice, the #3 Corvette could only muster the 4th fastest qualifying time in the GTLM class – putting them behind both of the SRT Viper GTS-R race teams and one Porsche team. The #4 Corvette C7.R ran into mechanical troubles during practice and they weren’t able to get on the track for qualifying so the second Corvette Racing team was forced to start in the 62nd position in the 67 car field and last in the GTLM class.

Fortunately, the race started off much better for both of the Corvette C7.R race cars in the Rolex 24 and during the first half of the race, both of the Corvettes spent time at the front of the class field while both of the Viper teams went many laps down with mechanical problems and crash damage. That good fortune came to an end about 13 hours into the Daytona race when the #3 Corvette ran into an engine cooling problem that would sideline it for the rest of the race – leaving this half of the Corvette Racing team to finish 10th in the class and 60th overall.

The #4 Corvette C7.R continued to compete for the GTLM class lead throughout the middle stages of the Rolex 24 and rarely did the #4 car drop out of the top three in the class. Even though the #91 SRT Viper had made up 11 laps on the leader and had caught up to the Corvette in terms of laps run, the #4 C7.R drivers still had a podium finish in their sites. Sadly for Corvette fans, a gearbox problem in the final hours of the race forced the #4 Corvette into the garage for repairs and that caused them to fall back into the field quite a bit. The #4 C7.R ended up finishing 5th in the class and 16th overall.

A few weeks later, the Corvette Racing team took both cars to Sebring for the winter testing session ahead of the 2014 12 Hours of Sebring race with the hopes of improving on the Daytona outcome. The teams had 4 practice sessions to show off what they could do on the famed Florida road course but once again – the C7.R teams failed to show much. The #3 Corvette C7.R could only manage to turn in the 4th best time in the GTLM class, over a second and a quarter slower than the Porsche 911 that led the GTLM class. Things were even worse for the #4 Corvette, with its best time of 2:01 making it the slowest car in the GTLM class.

The good news is that the Corvette Racing program has had several weeks since the winter test session to prepare for the 2014 12 Hours of Sebring race and that time has most certainly included tuning of the cars and heavy amounts of seat time for the drivers who will tackle Sebring next weekend.